After He Disappeared
by smallrose
Summary: What happens after Shevraeth leaves Marloven Hess in a hurry.
1. After He Disappeared

After He Disappeared

Disclaimer: I'm not Sherwood Smith. I don't know if I want to be her, but I'd love to be able to write like she does! I'm not getting any money for this either. (Nobody's reading it either, but who cares?)

A/N I know it's a terrible title, maybe I'll fix it up later. This is going to be really short.

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' "Two years of work. Might not last a day. That's Detlev for you. Look, Shevraeth, you have to get out now. I'll send your things when I can. Well done," he added, grinning. But then he waved his hands. "But I can't hold em any more. Go." And so--thirsty, half-awake, rumpled and sweaty--Shevraeth reached into his shirt, gripped the medallion, said the words. The last thing he saw before the world was wrenched away was Marlovair's astonished face.'

_**Shevraeth in Marloven Hess**_

Senrid saw Marlovair's face, too. "Oh, don't you worry. Much as you hate the foreigner, you know he is no coward. Believe me, where he's going, it's going to be much harder than what we're facing." he said wryly.

"Harder than facing the eleveners? What could be harder than that?"

Senrid could see the fear lurking beneath the disbelief on Marlovair's young face.

"He will have to hide all he's learnt here with us. He will have to make believe that he wouldn't know which end of a sword is which. He will have to act as though the color and state of his clothes and the latest court gossip is worth more to him than anything else. He will have to do all that or he dies."

"Is he being sent on a mission?" Marlovair asked incredulously. "You're sending that foreigner on a mission?"

"I sent him home."

"Where is his home?"

"Did he never say? He is from Remalna. He is Vidanric Renselaeus, the Marquis of Shevraeth, heir to the principality of Renselaeus in the kingdom of Remalna." Senrid's face was unreadable.

"What does 'Marquis' mean? And, is Shevraeth not his name?" They began to move quickly through the forest, careful to leave no trace.

"I will try to answer your questions at a later date, now, we have business to do. I will be sending a rad here to lead your group. Make sure not to be seen. And about the meaning of 'Marquis', it means that in his kingdom, his rank is not very far from the king's. He has grown up knowing that he would be Prince one day. Shevraeth is his territory."

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"Van!" Marlovair's worried face cracked a smile as he saw who had hoisted himself up into the trees.

"Turned out that I was the only one who Shevraeth taught to live in the trees. Where's he gone anyway? The king wouldn't tell me."

"The king sent him home. Said that Shevraeth isn't his name but the name of his territory. What does that mean?"

"I don't know, I'll have to speak to the king later if I can. For now, we have to be quiet and stay alive." Stad said grimly.

Van Marlovair shivered at the dark look on his cousin's face.

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"I don't need a bloody guard!"

"Yes, you do," said Keriam firmly, "and since they were all close to Shevraeth, you can explain what is happening to him. This way you won't be bored and you'll be doing them a favor as well."

"Oh, all right. Put it that way."

"Good, now you're going to go to the caves in the North. You can still command us using the message boxes."

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Three fists banged on three chests as Senrid entered the room.

"We are going to the caves in the North. I'll transport us there."

Once there, they all busied themselves with preparing the sleeping arrangements, hopefully they wouldn't be staying long, but they would have to be there for at least a few days. Once the fire was readied and the hard travel bread handed out in equal shares, Senrid began to speak. "No doubt you all have questions about Shevraeth and that is partly the reason why you three specifically have been chosen to stay with me. So that I can answer your questions." As he heard them exhale in relief, Senrid thought, _**score to Keriam.**_ "I think it will be best if I explain everything in one go so if you don't understand something, stop me in middle and I shall try to clarify, any questions afterwards I'll try to answer.

"First of all, Shevraeth is not his name, but the name of his territory. You see, their land doesn't go by military rank, but by way of land..."

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A/N Sorry, but I'm stopping here for today. I'll probably finish tomorrow, if I remember about it. I didn't realize it was going to be so long. I thought it was going to be the shortest of all of them yet (and that's saying something) but it wouldn't let me finish. So you see, I have to finish. Think of it as a sort of evil enchantment thingie, set to work forever on a never ending job. All I had wanted to write were the first three lines because they came into my head as I read that part in the book. Also, I apologize to anyone if I've gotten Senrid wrong, but I haven't managed to get my hands on the book _**Senrid**_ yet. My library hasn't got it! How bad is that!


	2. Some Years Later

Disclaimer: I'm not Sherwood Smith. I don't even want to be her, I like being me. I just want to be able to write like she does.

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"First of all, Shevraeth is not his name, but the name of his territory. You see, their land doesn't go by military rank, but by way of land..."

Suddenly someone burst in, breathing ragged, the messenger gasped, "The Eleveners are using some sort of magical probe! We need your majesty's help!"

Senrid quickly transported all those in the cave to where the fighting was. And so, the war continued, the people of Marloven Hess fought for their lives and it would be some years before anyone in that military minded country would be able to turn their thoughts to any country but their own.

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Marec looked up from his papers. A messenger stood in the doorway. 

"The King has sent for you, sir."

Marec sighed and pushed away the paperwork. He put on his waterproofed black woolen cloak as it was raining outside and followed the messenger out of the building and to the palace, until he reached the throne room where he stood before Senrid.

"Marec," said Senrid, "No doubt you wonder why I have sent for you, especially now, when you are so busy with your new duties as a master in the academy, so I will not keep you in suspense. Well, not really." The boy-king's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Our academy has just reopened in our first years of peace and therefore this is the perfect time to introduce some changes to the way it runs.

"I chose you as one of our new masters because I believe you may be more sensitive to the boys and girls, especially those in the Puppy Pit. However, I'd like you to go to a foreign country and feel how an outsider feels."

"But, your majesty, we don't have any foreigners. Why, the only foreigner this academy has ever admitted was Shev-"

"Shevraeth, exactly. Which is why when in ten or eleven years, when another one of my relatives joins us, it would be nice if the culture shock would be easier on him than it was on Shevraeth."

"Easier than on Shevraeth?" Marec repeated with a puzzled look that Senrid chose to ignore. "He had a hard time of it? Hes face never showed a thing, he was as stone faced as well…"

_As me,_ thought Senrid, knowing what Marec had stopped himself from saying. _Well, we are relatives, albeit distant._

"Back to what I started to say before," said the king, "I'm sending you to Remalna. Not by yourself of course, Stad and some others are going with you. I want you to forge an alliance with their king. And I think that some of your revelations will be amusing."

"Remalna? Isn't that Shevraeth's country?"

"Yes, perhaps you'll meet him there. You are going in four hours. I've already told the others. So make yourself ready and be here on time so that I can transport you."

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A/N Don't ask how the war ended. I just wanted to get it done and over with. Also, I know the character's are a bit OOC. Therefore, constructive criticism is ASKED for. Please.


	3. Arrival

Disclaimer: I'm not Smith, I'm just copying her.

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Savona heard the sound of a gong coming from the transport chamber as he passed it. Slightly curious, he decided to take a peek at the new arrivals. As he opened the door, he saw three men of average or short height gazing dazedly around the room. All of a sudden their expressions turned blank and their bodies tensed, on guard. Impossible as it was, they had heard him come in even though he had been as quiet as possible.

_They remind me of someone, I've seen that expression before! _thought Savona. "May I help you, gentlemen? Direct you some place, y'know, that sort of thing?" said Savona showing a carefree smile but watching the three carefully.

The men gazed at him uncomprehendingly. Then one said something in a curiously flat foreign language. He was a broad fellow with his blond hair cropped in the short militaristic style that all three wore.

_Burn it! I guess they're not Remalnan, Sartoran, or Colendi. I have to find someone who recognizes that language, can't leave the poor duffers like this. But that haircut! I know it from somewhere! _Savona's thoughts came in a rush. 'Would you follow me?" said Savona brightly using flamboyant hand signs to illustrate his question.

The men looked at him disdainfully but appeared to get the idea and followed him out of the room. Two of the guard from the transport chamber brought up the rear.

Savona deposited them with a servant, instructing him to make sure that they were fed and would be back in a half hour or so. Then he wandered off to find the Prince of Princess who he felt would be the most likely to recognize a foreign language if anyone in the palace could.

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As Marec entered the transport chamber in Senrid's palace, he looked to see who else would be going. Stad, of course, and… Marlovair? Well, he had changed since boyhood.

Senrid spoke; "Have a nice time, men. Try to learn something, won't you? I'd rather if this wasn't a complete waste of energy. If you need a hint of what I'd like you to learn, Marlovair, perhaps try to recall the night patrol on the last of the old games you played with your house as a boy. Don't worry, it was observed by someone else. He never told." And with that enigmatic message, Senrid completed the spell and they materialized in some other transport chamber.

A tall, dark-haired man dressed in what Marec considered a useless foppishness came into the chamber and said something unintelligible in a strange lilting accent that reminded him of Shevraeth.

"We are an envoy from Senrid Harvald of Marloven Hess. We wish to meet with your king." said Stad. However, it was evident that the fop of a noble couldn't understand him and just gestured for them to follow while he spoke again. They followed him to a servant who provided them with food.

"Van, what did the king mean, 'night patrol'… 'last of the old games'?" Stad turned to his younger cousin with a puzzled air.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that, too." added Marec.

Marlovair appeared to be distressed. "I've never told anyone, least of all you, Van. Do you remember, I was such a brat?"

"Yes, we remember, were you hoping that we'd forget?" Stad grinned.

"Well, it was when there was that whole business with you, Marec, and you. It was an overnight game. I was put on water duty. All night. Buckets back and forth. Back and forth. You told me that I was destroying your life. Remember?"

Stad remembered that night only too well. "So?"

"Well, at that point, after you told me all that, I just wanted to kill myself. I ran off into the hedges and… I cried. I was supposed to be in my tent sleeping. Then I heard someone on perimeter duty. It was the foreigner and he had definitely heard me, but he never came over to me. He didn't breeze me or anything, he made believe that he couldn't hear a thing, but even he wasn't so stupid. And then, the next morning, he still didn't say anything."

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A/N I'm stopping here because I ran out of juice. (I do that a lot, hence the long gaps between chapters.) However, never fear, I do have the whole story in my head, it's just that some of the actual details are a little fuzzy. It's also that with school and everything, I haven't got that much time.


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